Dinner at Harvest Vine

[halland]

A group of 3 of us went to Harvest Vine last night. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Get there early as they do not take reservations. Also, get there early because they close at 10 and our meal took 3 hours.

If you haven't been, its a Basque restaurant that serves only tapas, both hot and cold. There is bar seating where you can sit and watch them cook, there are a few small tables upstairs, and downstairs in the wine cellar is a long, family-style table, and a few smaller tables around the room. The wine cellar is probably the more intimate place for a romantic evening and certainly isn't crowed like the upstairs is with people waiting for tables, but I'd choose the bar any night for the opportunity to watch them cook. We were at one of the small upstairs tables and I could only see some of the action.

For dinner we had:

Seared scallops on a caramelized onion base. Fantastic, the scallops were cooked to perfection.

Roasted peppers stuffed with a potato and salt cod filling with a delicious pepper sauce on top. A similar dish is listed in Hirogen's Basque cook book. Again, great flavor, the sauce is super for dipping your bread.

Lamb with gratined potatoes. The lamb was perfectly cooked and delicious, the potatoes were phenomenal. I don't know what they did to them but it was perfection.

Morcilla (blood and onion sausage) again delicious, how can you go wrong. A good salty meaty flavor.

Smoked Octopus in a pimenton oil sauce. If you like pimenton, then this is a dish for you. The octopus was a little tough but still fantastic.

Green beans in a tomato sauce. Delicous with razor thin slices of garlic floating in the sauce.

We also had a serving of one of the 5-6 cheeses they offer for $3/ounce.

And, lots and lots of bread. Its good to have a sponge for all the sauces.

The dishes were brought out one by one so that at no time was our table crowded with plates and we never ever felt rushed whatsoever. I should also add that our selections probably only represent about 1/5 of the menu for the evening. I'm pretty sure the menu changes daily as our had the date printed on the front.

The wine list was extensive and reasonably priced. There are many, many choices for under $35 as well as wine and many sherries and ports by the glass.

For dessert we had:

Fig and manzanilla sherry ice cream -- this is delicious, sherry ice cream studded with bits of fig! The Euskal version of france's prune and armanac ice cream.

Dried Figs stuffed with a cherry (?) chocolate filling, and two kinds of cookies, a chocolate one and a pistachio cookie that was amazing.

Goats milk cheesecake with a pomegranite topping and a walnut (?) crust. A generous portion and delicious.

I would certainly go back here again without reservation. The entire staff was outstanding and our waitress did an amazing job of keeping everyone happy and with food.

As an added bonus, Tom Douglas was walking out as we were walking in. Good to know that this place gets the chef's approval.

I noticed right away who he was but for some reason he didn't recognize me!

Hal

Edited March 29, 2003 by halland (log)

[tighe]

Thanks for the great review. Its been way too long since I've been there. HV is such a fantastic place and unique in Seattle. From your review it sounds like the new wine cellar is open and weren't we discussing the possibility of reserving some space there for an eGullet dinner, back when the news first came out that the space was being added? Anyone interested in going sometime in May maybe?

Edited March 31, 2003 by tighe (log)

[malarkey]

I would LOVE to go here! I haven't been yet!! that makes me crazy!!!

[Coop]

Halland: On a trip to Seattle in November to eat and drink at some Egullet favs, the dish of the trip were those peppers stuffed with salt cod. I hope they become a regular menu item.

[Schielke]

I have been meaning to eat there again as well. The food is phenominal and it is almost a crime that I havent been back since...it is also a crime that all of you have not been yet!

Drool...

[herbacidal]

schielke,

you changed your avatar!

i liked the old debonair you better!